Saturday, 22 August 2015

World Conquest Or Competitive Sports

"War and repression are the raison d'etre of the Domination'sstate machinery; the Draka exist in a state of either war or serious preparation for same."
-SM Stirling, Marching ThroughGeorgia (New York, 1991), p. 394.

Poul Anderson shows us wars and militarized societies but Stirling goes all the way with this idea. No one has ever conquered the entire Earth before but, if the Draka do succeed, so that their raison d'etre becomes not war but only repression, then surely they will stagnate? Or they might pull the 1984 stunt of dividing the world into nominally hostile powers and maintaining permanent limited wars in undeveloped areas far away from the centers of civilization?

Here is one Draka's response to the prospect of battle:

"'Brothers an' Sisters of the Race!' he cried in mock ecstasy. 'These are great times. Do yo' realize what this means?' He paused for effect. 'For once - just like we always dreamed in Basic - just this one time in our young nearly-maggot-recruit, lives, bros, we gets a chance to kill the sumbitch donkeyfuckahs that're roustin' us out of bed in the middle of the night!'" (p. 254)

This draws laughter and cheers and even a stifled smile from Centurion Eric von Shrakenberg who, we know, is capable of aspirations beyond the Draka dead end. But the "...gangling, freckled young man..." (ibid.) making this rousing speech is simply naive. He really does not know any better. Such enthusiasm and group loyalty should be channeled into football, not into world conquest.